​The Air Force has created a new position to lead the Air Force One replacement program and has chosen Brig. Gen. Duke Richardson to do the job, the Dayton Daily News reported.
Richardson - who was nominated for a second star in February - is currently executive manager of the Air Force’s tanker directorate at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, where he has overseen development of the service’s KC-46 tanker.

Boeing reimbursed the US government $4 million after three company mechanics damaged the oxygen system for a VC-25A, a modified VIP 747-200 also known as Air Force One, the US Air Force says in a new accident investigation report.
The VC-25A was damaged as three mechanics checked for leaks in the oxygen system, according to a summary of the Accident Investigation Board report (*) released on 9 May.

Air Force Cancels $24 Million Air Force One Refrigerator Contract .....

The Air Force’s $24 million plan for refrigerators on Air Force One is no longer running.
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) said in a statement Monday afternoon (*) that Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told him the sole source contract has been canceled, and the service is reviewing more affordable options.
“Even with the understanding that the Air Force One mission brings with it unique requirements and challenges, a $24 million sole-source contract just didn’t pass the smell test,” Courtney said in a statement.
Wilson, in her letter, said the Air Force and the White House Military Office decided to terminate the effort, but it could be reviewed if the Presidential Aircraft Replacement program is delayed.

The US Air Force’s forthcoming Boeing VC-25B, popularly known by the call sign “Air Force One" when the president travels aboard, recently completed its preliminary design review.
The Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate also said on 26 November that it anticipates that the VC-25B programme will complete its critical design review a year from now.
In April, Boeing was granted $24.1 million for additional design work on the next generation of presidential aircraft with the intent that preliminary design work would be complete by December 2018.

The cost of buying, equipping, and preparing to operate the two Boeing 747s that will become the next Air Force One presidential transport aircraft is now pegged at $5.3 billion, nearly one-third more than the figure routinely touted by the White House, according to Air Force officials and Pentagon budget documents.
The projected price tag — included in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal — marks the first time the Defense Department has provided a total cost estimate for the project.
It includes not only the cost of the planes themselves, but also work to build a new hangar complex at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and other administrative, engineering, and development work.

President Donald Trump unveiled his plan for the livery of the next Air Force One during a June 13 television interview, though the new paint scheme may require Congressional approval.
During an interview with ABC News, Trump showed a piece of paper with the proposed redesigned paint scheme for the next Air Force One.
Unlike the white, blues, and chrome livery of the current VC-25A, the VC-25B would be blue on its bottom, with a red strike and a white top half.

The first 747-8 aircraft has begun the modification process to become a VC-25B, or the next Air Force One.
The aircraft, which were originally bought by a Russian airline but never delivered, were ferried to a Boeing modification facility in San Antonio, Texas, from a “boneyard” in California in spring 2019.
The modification work began on Feb. 25.
Since arriving at the Boeing facility, the company prepared the aircraft by removing commercial interiors, engines, auxiliary power units, and other system components ...

The US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) has announced that the first of two Boeing 747-8s to be modified to VC-25B standard to become a new “Air Force One”, has begun.
The announcement came via a press release (*) on March 11, which detailed that work began on the first aircraft on February 25.
The USAF’s VC-25B programme is being managed by the AFLCMC’s Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate, with Boeing conducting the work at its modification facility in San Antonio, Texas.

The effort to replace Air Force One is moving along smoothly despite the new coronavirus, and has essentially completed a key design milestone, USAF acquisition boss Will Roper said April 16.
Program officials held the critical design review online rather than coming together in person during the pandemic, a practice that Roper touted as an easy and efficient model for the future.
He’s a fan of having participants raise their digital hand during a livestream to line up for questions.
“I don’t think we’re going to go back to people [temporary duty traveling] and sitting in large conference rooms,” he said.
“I don’t know if it makes any sense to do CDRs, at least at an unclass[ified] level, outside of tools like this.”

Boeing will have to pay $168 million out of pocket to cover increased costs on the VC-25B Air Force One replacement program, the company said Wednesday.
Boeing attributed the overrun to “engineering inefficiencies” caused by the impact of COVID-19, but Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith said the program remains on schedule with a projected delivery of the first VC-25B in 2024.
However, Boeing’s quarterly report to the Security and Exchange Commission noted future risk to the program’s cost and schedule as a result of the engineering challenges.
“We believe these inefficiencies will result in staffing challenges, schedule inefficiencies and higher costs in the upcoming phases of the program,” the company stated in the report.